Month: March 2010

Stripped down, un-earthed, touched-up, repaired, revamped, and re-evaluated. The original run of “Classic” Tank Girl books (from 1988 -1995) at last get to see the light of day in their original form…

TANK GIRL: BOOK ONE (remastered edition)

“From the depths of the outback she charges, astride her fabulous tank! It’s…Tank Girl. Join everybody’s favourite beer-swilling, chain-smoking, kangaroo-worrying lunatic as she blitzes her way through a dazzling array of bizarre adventures, including bounty hunting, delivering colostomy bags to Australian presidents, kangaroo boxing… and many more outrageous and mind-warping thrills! Marking the 20th anniversary of “Tank Girl”, with a new introduction from Alan Martin, and previously unseen material from Jamie Hewlett, this is the first in a series of ultimate collections. Presented for the first time in chronological order and in glorious black and white – as nature intended!”

TANK GIRL: BOOK TWO (remastered edition)

More of the same, only with more sex and violence, slightly better drawing, Dennis Hopper & Peter Fonda, and free admission into Booga’s Treehouse Club. Featuring a new introduction from Alan, stupid photos, and a brace of bonus bits and bobs. The nuts.

TANK GIRL: BOOK THREE (remastered edition)

Much enlarged, stripped back and repaired, BOOK THREE is now a glorious suppository of all things TG. Includes the one where Graham Coxon saves everyone with his bouncy castle. Now featuring the long lost stories Anitdisesatblishmentarianism & Cowboy Chan. And a photo of Adam Ant picking his nose.

TANK GIRL: THE ODYSSEY (remastered edition)

Drawn by Jamie, written by Peter Milligan, THE ODYSSEY was the first full length outing for Tank Girl. Mixing Homer’s Odyssey, Joyce’s Ulysses and a few random episodes of Scooby Doo, the story drags our heroes to the bottom of the barrel and back again. A brand new introduction from Pete, a covers gallery, and the hardly-ever-seen, all-colour Tank Girl stories produced by Jamie and Pete for Details magazine make this a very tasty package indeed.

TANK GIRL : APOCALYPSE (remastered edition)

With script from veteran Brit 2000AD writer Alan Grant and art from Andy Pritchett and Phil Bond, this second graphic novel length story really puts Tank Girl through the wringer; conspiracy theory, pregnancy, and headbutting Lady Di are all subjects addressed here. A covers gallery and the un-earthed ten-page story Picnic At Hanging Cock finish the book nicely.

Barney in a coma. Booga on a skateboard. Jet Girl in a giant toy car with Dee Dee Ramone. Tank Girl on a cruise-missile-mission to save the day and maybe stop somewhere nice for tea. It can only be TANK GIRL: SKIDMARKS the collection. Finally the ten trouser-tanning instalments have been shovelled up by Titan Comics and transformed into a beautiful graphic novel. Just in time for your summer hols. Features two extra stories and an insane amout of other bonus material. And if you don’t like it, you can always use it for wiping your bum!

The second graphic novel collection with IDW Publishing, a story that I’ve described as “a kind of transcontinental Kerouacian odyssey, with knob jokes”

Here’s some reviews –

“(Martin’s) writing is surprisingly unchanged. It’s still by turns funny, weird, and strangely sentimental. Beat poetry via Carry On movies. It’s got the same strong whiff of teenage indulgence it always had, that eternal pleasure of having girls saying rude words and farting; of kangaroos with their cocks out, and of gratuitous pop cultural references… lashings of Beat writing filtered through the crumbling seaside facades of Worthing (Hewlett and Martin’s hometown).”

“A sheer joy, feels like the old days of TG but more kind of wistful and poetic, even the poo jokes feel somehow more beautiful this time round. Basically this issue was a kind of dream come true for me – two hot chicks ride around in a vintage Nazi halftrack while a kangaroo reads the great lost work of the Beat Generation. I wonder if Alan C. Martin is reading my mind?”

“The artwork in the comic is simply amazing. No, it isn’t incredibly realistic and finely detailed. It is just incredibly coloured and artistically appealing. The general style keeps with the punk aspect the comic series has always had.”

“I’ve gotten the previous books, so the quality was no surprise. It’s really one of the best books out there right now with a unique perspective, both on storytelling and art, from one of the more established comic book companies.”

For those of you that missed it in 2007, I’d like to flag up Tank Girl’s comeback series “The Gifting“, which crashed to Earth as a mini-series last May and severely dented the Top 50 Trade Paperback Charts at the end of the year. A fantastic collection of great covers by Ashley Wood and a glorious car crash of interior art by Ashley and Rufus Dayglo –

“Ashley Wood delivers a very cool style which somehow, despite not trying to imitate Jamie’s original work, manages to reference it at a level old fans will recognise and appreciate – he delivers art which suits the story and characters perfectly and manages to make them very much Tank Girl while still very Ashley Wood too, a pretty neat trick to pull off.”

“Frankly, Tank Girl was MIA for too long and it’s good to see her back.”

In April 2008 Titan Books published my debut text novel, “Tank Girl: Armadillo!” which received some very overenthusiastic reviews from the far corners of the globe –

“…like Jack Kerouac for my people. My people being pot-smokers with funny colored hair who enjoy comics and violent explosions of smoke and fury. “Armadillo!” is one of the best things I’ve read. Alan Martin goes up there with Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, William Gibson, and the other madmen novelists who’ve changed my life forever.”

“Tank Girl: Armadillo! is the natural heir to the British comedy shows of the 1960’s and 1970’s like Monty Python’s Flying Circus in that it also takes an illogical situation to its most logical conclusion. The only difference is that Tank Girl: Armadillo! has far more basis in reality than those other shows did. On the surface this is a hoot and a holler, but underneath it all is a call to arms.”

“I would recommend…no…I would insist that any long time Tank Girl fan pick this up and devour it as I did. The 156-page story, Armadillo! is comedic magnificence. The 2nd half called The Bushel is a nice collection of shorts, comic scripts and odd bits that are sure to burst or necessitate some stitches
I always knew Martin was a comedic genius, but he really shines brightest here all on his own. Until he gives us another volume like this one, I’ll be rabidly craving more.”

“Providing a definitive guide to Tank Girl and her world, this coffee-table art book boasts masses of Jamie Hewlett’s finest artwork, including tons of rare art and the previously unseen comic strip, The 16s, along with every Hewlett Tank Girl cover for Deadline magazine ever; plus publicity posters; graphic novel collection covers; an unseen, rejected script; sketches for the film; animation storyboards and more. Replete with new cover art from Jamie Hewlett and commentary from writer Alan Martin, this celebration of a comics cult icon puts on show exactly what has made Tank Girl so eminently popular throughout two decades of history.”